In his final mayoral report for the year, Gary Kircher referred again to delays due to the council transformation.
Transformation — which entails a complete rejig of how the council delivers services and interacts with customers — has since July consolidated council departments with staff and managers having to reapply for their jobs.
Full implementation of new departments and roles is expected to be bedded in by next March.
At the same time, councillors have aired their frustration about pressure on the governance function — including timely minutes and agenda reports.
In his report for next Tuesday’s meeting, Mr Kircher noted the council had yet to get the "all clear" from the auditors to release its 2025-34 long-term plan public consultation document.
He said the subsequent public engagement would bring challenges — particularly around keeping rates affordable.
"Thank goodness that we don’t have to have an auditor sitting next to us as we deliver that information and respond to questions. Well, at least not yet.
"Given the current stage of transformation, we have not yet been provided with the operational budgets for the years ahead — something that is crucial to our oversight role in governance.
"Mr Parmley and officers have assured me these budgets are being reviewed and the last departments will have their draft budgets completed by April for us to consider."
But a timeline for that was needed, "so we know we can fulfil our responsibilities without the pressures of short timeframes", Mr Kircher said.
In contrast, Mr Parmley in his own report suggested the council transformation was "ground breaking in New Zealand".
There is "a lot to be proud of".
"In the busyness and the churn of change, it is easy to lose sight of what we have achieved."
This included beginning the transformation implementation "with relatively little disruption to date".
He also highlighted several projects started during the year, including its "biggest ever project", the Waitaki Events Centre.
While some aspects of council business "grabs the headlines", it had continued to deliver day-to-day services consistently.
"If you read social media and even some of the regular media reporting, it would be easy to think that we do not do much and what we do is not very good.
"This is not true, and our critics do not know us and how much we do and deliver with a small resource."
Mr Parmley reinforced the restructure would bring lasting benefits.
"It is also something that is ground breaking in New Zealand local government."
However, there was still a great deal of work to do on that.
"One of the challenges we need to overcome is our need to prioritise and focus better.
"We are still trying to do too much with the limited resources we have."
A stronger focus on working "genuinely as one" team was needed, Mr Parmley said.
